Economic nature of a natural catastrophe: characteristics and impact of the 1979-80 northeastern drought

ABSTRACT

The paper assesses the socio-economic nature of the 1979/80 drought in the Northeast on the basis of a survey conducted by the Joaquim Nabuco Foundation. It purports to show the essence of the difficulties that drought brings to the population of its official victims - those enrolled in the Emergency Program coordinated by SUDENE, a sample of which was interviewed. A conclusion of the study reveals that the effects of a drought are more intense, the poorer the affected social strata. Another conclusion indicates that the official refugees’ production of subsistence crops had a decline of around 70 percent in 1978/80.

KEYWORDS:
drought; land ownership; agricultural output